Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Busy

Dear Family,

Mom, you would be proud of me. I now like green beans. A lot of peoplehere in Nebraska keep making them as part of the dinner so I eat themand they actually taste pretty good. So now I don't have a food that Idon't like. I think that is a good trait for missionaries, becauseeveryone is nice enough to feed us dinner and it would be rude not toeat it.

Something I'm learning is that missionary work is a lifelong thing. Itdoesn't stop after someone is baptized (they still need to worktowards the temple and endure to the end) and it doesn't stop when Iget home. We are all missionaries. Teaching each other with visitingand home teaching is just as important as teaching people that aren'tmembers yet. Conversion, activation, and retention are all missionarywork. As missionaries we are supposed to help with all three. We are afull time resource for the members in our areas. Missionaries helpmembers do missionary work, not the other way around. I've neverreally looked at it like that before, but I think that's how it issupposed to go. We're trained to be the best teachers we can be sothat members can trust us to teach them, their families, and theirfriends. It's a very short time that we have this privilege. Anotherthing I'm learning is how amazing "Preach My Gospel" is. It isinspired. It is like new scripture to help us today. If more scriptureneeded to be added to our triple combinations it would be "Preach myGospel." We don't use it enough. If we have any questions about how tobe better missionaries, they are answered by a chapter in "Preach MyGospel." I should be better about studying from it.

My story for the week isn't really a story. Mainly, I want to tell youhow amazing the Rohbocks are. They are an older couple in the Gretnabranch that help us a ton. They feed us lunch every Sunday between ourmeetings, they give us rides, they print off talks, they bake usbread, they come help us teach, they exercise with us on p-day, theytake us shopping, and are all around amazing. We love having them cometeach with us because they have powerful testimonies, they can explainthings simply and clearly, and they are soooooooooooooooooo good atrelating to people. I admire them so much. I hope that I can become asgiving and loving as they are. I feel like I learn so much from them,by conversing with them and by observing the way they live theirlives.

Well, I'm glad you are all keeping busy. I hope you continue to be successful.Love,Sister Bailey Mortensen